1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a process and apparatus to extract residual hydrocarbon oil that is trapped in the formations of underground reservoirs.
2. Prior Art
While North American reservoirs still hold a third of a trillion barrels of hydrocarbon oil, the easier-to-produce oil in North America is almost gone even with current advanced reservoir-enhancement capabilities. Most of what remains is oil which resists extraction. The challenge is to overcome the Earth's natural resistant forces that are immobilizing the hydrocarbon oil and to realign the forces acting on the oil while it is in the earth and thus make it easier to extract from the reservoir.
The Earth's geomagnetic field; its plasma and colloid state; its minerals and rocks; formation waters, residual oil, and reservoir characteristics--all of these mechanical and physical properties act and react to electric and magnetic forces which tend to hold residual oil captive.